Sun Goes Down
by KirbsterMK
Summary: The spirits of the items have returned to life, yet for an unknown reason. Wasn't the Pharaoh's journey completed, and weren't the others destroyed? And in the confusion, a strong force is seeking revenge. [Kleptoshipping, violence]
1. Caught

**KirbsterMK:** At first, this was going to be a Yami Bakura/Yugi one-shot in order to warm myself up so that I could write a fic about mine and my friend's original characters . . . But I found out the hard way that I wouldn't be able to develop the relationship in twenty pages or less, so I decided to write a full story . . . I sincerely do not know how long I'm going to keep this story up, since I have other stories which hold priority over this one, all of them being original stories, but you can enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

However, at this time, I'm not sure if there'll be any couples in it at all now. (shrugs) For now, no romance. Unless, of course, you guys want something thrown in there. (smirks) Can't promise anything though.

No random Japanese words will be used in the fic. I will only use words that can be heard in a common episode, and their meanings will be listed here.

Yami – Darkness

Hikari – Light

Aibou – Partner

**WARNINGS: Violence (LOTS, LATER), some bad language, and me gone crazy. Yeah, good luck. Hope you live through the first chapter without dying of boredom.**

_**Flames will be poked at, pointed at, and laughed at, because those who have time to read the story and then review it with a pointless flame must not have very much of a life.**_

* * *

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**Chapter 1**

**Caught**

Walking softly through the shadows, he glanced to his left every now and then, following the young boy on his walk. A smirk made its way onto his face; too easy. He continued to follow the teen, checking behind him every so often, assuring himself that the pharaoh was nowhere to be found.

He silently thanked the gods above for his skills in the shadows, for allowing him to obtain justice. After three thousand years, he could get back at them all, at everyone. He would _not_ be betrayed or possessed again; he would make sure of it.

He watched the puzzled boy fight through his confusing thoughts, thankful yet again to the gods that had given him this perfect chance at revenge. With the boy being so distracted with thoughts, the thief knew that he would have no trouble getting what he wanted. No trouble at all.

He watched curiously as the boy seemed to snap slightly out of his daze, and actually looked around for a destination.

_'Ah . . . The park . . . Perfect . . .'_ He was technically supposed to be there, anyway. At least he wouldn't have to lie to his hikari.

Another smirk, _'Dear Yugi, you've been caught.' _

* * *

Yugi sighed, scratching his head, confused. It had seemed like such a long time since that day, since he thought he had lost his other half. He felt a small smile creep onto his face at the memory of returning to the hotel, only to open the door and see Yami and Bakura waiting for the group with their own bodies, wondering what took them so long. Yami (Atemu, Yugi corrected himself mentally) had been sitting on a chair in his arrogant way, with Bakura lying on the bed with his usual sneer as they stood in surprise.

They had all wondered how the two ended up back in the living world and even more-so how Bakura happened to return; hadn't he been destroyed when Zork had been? And where had Marik gone? The other spirit must've come back as well, right?

It was only a couple weeks ago that this had occurred, and Yami (Atemu!) had been worrying about Marik's whereabouts constantly. There was no doubt in his mind that the other spirit still lived, and had returned. The pharaoh had currently locked himself in Yugi's room, blocking off their mind link, in order to concentrate, much as he would've done had he still been a spirit trapped inside the Millennium Puzzle.

Thinking back to his confusion, he continued on his walk. His mind was plagued with questions similar to the one's Yami had. His eyebrows furrowed in frustration; none of it made any sense! His other half returned to the living world when he was supposed to have passed on to the afterlife; the tomb-robber was destroyed along with Zork, the spirit of darkness that had possessed the thief; Marik had been destroyed . . . though it hadn't been proven that he was even back for sure, but Yami swore it.

Yugi shook his head, he'd been thinking way too much lately, and hadn't gotten any sleep because of it. Yami had told him to go for a walk, relax, and that was exactly what he was going to do. He thought it unusual that his other half had actually _suggested_ splitting up; it was unlike him. But Yugi just waved it off; they did have separate bodies now, it was okay to split up sometimes.

Passing by the usual buildings in Domino City, he noticed that he was reaching the park quicker than he had anticipated. The golden glow of the near-setting sun lit through the trees, making the whole area seem to be some sort of sanctuary to troubled minds. Some time alone was definitely starting to sound better than it had before to the young teen.

Reaching the park, he decided to enjoy the serene scenery before sitting down to relax, and took a quick stroll, passing the various gardens and trees, even taking the time to walk through the worn path in the small area of woods to calm his mind.

As the sky grew darker, and stars began just barely appearing above him as the sun neared the completion of its cycle, Yugi finally decided to take a seat on the nearest bench, watching the enjoyable show, wishing his other half were there to cherish it with him.

Sighing again, though this time smiling, he thought he heard footsteps behind him before he pushed the thought away from his mind so that he could meditate and release his mind from the chains of his previous thoughts.

"Oh, isn't this precious?" Yugi jumped at hearing the all-too-familiar voice behind him, startling him into standing and spinning around, only to see the smirk on the tomb robber's face widen.

"B-Bakura!" Yugi stuttered, blinking once or twice before continuing, "What are you doing here?"

Bakura chuckled darkly, "That happens to be none of your business. However, I'm quite curious as to why your 'pharaoh' isn't around . . ."

"Oh, that . . ." Yugi warily gave Bakura a look of mistrust, "He thought I needed some space to calm down. I haven't been feeling good lately, and he wanted to stay at home; had some things to figure out."

Bakura had been hanging around the group lately, usually only when Ryou was around, but Yugi saw that Ryou was no where to be found. This was definitely strange, even considering how civil the spirit seemed to act around them . . . Most of the time.

"That makes it _too _easy," Bakura gave another chuckle, this one louder than the last which seemed to worry Yugi slightly, "Who's to say there aren't creeps out there on the streets, waiting for the perfect moment to kidnap you? I'm disappointed in 'His Highness'."

Yugi took a step back, "Don't you have better things to do with your time, Bakura?" What was wrong with him? The Bakura that everyone had finally gotten to know wasn't nearly as creepy as he had been with Zork possessing him . . .

Bakura seemed to think for a moment, then shook his head, that same mischievous glint in his eye, as always, "No, not really."

"You can't seriously still be mad at Yami . . . Atemu . . . can you?" Yugi asked curiously, still apprehensive about staying around the crazy spirit for too long.

Bakura frowned at this; he hadn't been expecting the small hikari to ask something like that, "Possessive spirit or no, it was his father's fault my village was destroyed." Yugi saw anger flash through the spirit's eyes, but it quickly changed to a look of smugness, "I wonder what the pharaoh would do if I were to abduct you right now? He'd probably beat himself up over it . . . Heh, that would be fun to watch,"

"But it—"

Bakura smirked, cutting him off, "The same blood runs through them, little one. By getting to your precious pharaoh through you, I'd still be getting to Akhenamkhanen, now wouldn't I, dear Yugi?"

Yugi bit his lip, "Why are you telling me all of this?" Yugi felt his other half brush against his thoughts; most likely concerned about the worry and anxiety shooting off from his end. He didn't respond, too caught up in his emotions.

"You won't be conscious long enough to give it too much thought." Yugi raised an eyebrow at this, then suddenly felt another energy flowing into him, feeling quite tired for an unknown reason . . . pity, had he had the Millennium Puzzle with him, he probably could've stopped it.

Bakura walked around the bench, quickly catching the short boy before he fell to the ground as he gave in to unconsciousness. Lifting him up into his arms, Bakura began walking home.

The tomb robber laughed, _'Ryou was right . . . a nice walk through the park _was_ what I need.'_

* * *

Ryou sighed; he seemed to be doing that a lot lately. All he kept hearing in his head were the numerous plots to get back at Marik and Atemu from his other half. He was definitely worried; if not for the pharaoh, for Bakura.

They weren't even sure if Marik really had come back, yet his yami was acting like he was . . . maybe Bakura was just being hopeful.

At least his other half wasn't as crazed as he used to be.

He suddenly felt a sense of victory from Bakura's side of the link.

_'Oh dear . . .'_ Ryou's eyebrows came together in worry, _'I hope he didn't hurt anyone . . . probably shouldn't have let him out on his own,'_

_'Oh, my dear Ryou, you have so little faith in me,'_ Ryou jumped, nearly knocking his cup of tea onto his lap at the response. He definitely hadn't been expecting one.

_'Bakura!'_

_'Yes, that _would_ be my name, now wouldn't it?'_

_'W-What's going on? What did you do?'_

_'Mmm . . . That's my little secret. I'll be home in a few minutes; I guess you'll find out then. By the way, thanks for the park suggestion; it really lifted my mood.'_

Ryou groaned, leaning his forehead against his hand as it rested on the table. What havoc had his other half wreaked on the small city of Domino now?

He didn't notice it at first, but when he brought up his cup of tea to drink, his hands were shaking. Badly. He had a bad feeling about this.

After finishing his tea, nearly dropping his cup from his hands' shaking, he got up to put the cup in the sink when a strong feeling of nervousness hit deep into his chest as he sensed the Millennium Ring coming closer and closer to where he was.

_' . . . Bakura?'_

He didn't receive a response, before the front door opened. Ryou took a deep breath, trying to stop his hands and legs from shaking before walking out of the kitchen and into the living room, going to greet his yami.

"Bakura, seriously, what—Bakura! What did you do!" Ryou's legs paused in mid-step as he saw the unconscious form in Bakura's arms.

"Relax, it's not like I killed him or anything." Bakura sneered, not bothering to take off his shoes as he began to ascend the stairs, "He'll be staying in your room for a while . . ."

Ryou hesitated, then sprinted up to block Bakura off in a sudden burst of courage, "What are you going to do with him?" He asked determinedly, nearly glaring at his other half.

Bakura's grin grew, his eyes matching the younger teen's glare, "Oh? Since when did _you_ grow a backbone?"

Ryou's expression faltered, not liking the ancient tomb robber's tone, but quickly reformed at another glance at his unconscious friend, "Since I decided that you've done enough. Can't you drop it already? It's been 3,000 years, yet you still have a one-track mind?"

He suddenly felt the back of Bakura's hand against his cheek, leaving a stinging sensation as he lost his balance and fell on the stairs. He winced, holding his cheek as it reddened, fearfully looking up to Bakura as tears stung his eyes.

The figure of his friend was leaning with its back against Bakura's left hand, his right one still in the air, ready to strike again. Bakura's eyes narrowed into slits, "I have my reasons, brat. I have no need to explain them to you." Smirking again, he continued his way up the stairs and into Ryou's room.

Ryou subconsciously rubbed his cheek as his tears quickly went away. Damn, that hurt. He sat on the stairs for a few minutes before sighing; so he still couldn't stand up to his other half. He buried his face in his hands, sighing heavily. What did Bakura want with Yugi anyway? To get back at the pharaoh? Again? Hadn't he done enough already?

And what was the ancient spirit going to do him?

He heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and felt his other half sit next to him. Ryou tensed up when he felt a rough hand grab both his wrists and yank them away from his face. His eyes were clenched shut, even as he felt the other rough hand rub softly against his stinging cheek.

He slowly opened his eyes to see Bakura softly glaring at his reddened cheek. He noticeably relaxed under the touch, and unconsciously leaned into it, still looking at his other half.

Bakura released Ryou's cheek and wrists, and looked into his eyes, "Don't do that again," He said sternly, "I don't enjoy hurting you, you know." The tomb robber got up and walked into the kitchen in silence.

Ryou followed the retreating figure, and blinked in surprise. Perhaps without Zork possessing him any longer, he was a kinder soul. Perhaps.

Ryou rubbed his cheek gently again, finally deciding to follow his other half into the kitchen, hoping to get something such as a reason out of him for doing such a thing to his friend.

* * *

The silent figure watched the tomb robber enter the house with the unconscious boy. He nodded in satisfaction; everything was going according to plan. However, there was one person he needed to attend to . . .

A slight grin graced the hooded figure's features as he turned and headed towards a nearby hotel in the outskirts of Domino City as the Eye of Horus glowed brightly on his forehead.

The Millennium Rod was held tightly in his left hand, still glowing from its previous activities.

* * *

**KirbsterMK:** So, there you have it. Chapter one. Heh, I'm done with chapter two, too, but you guys can wait for that, right? Flames are pointless, they waste everyone's time, so please don't submit them. However, some constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated.

Virtual cookies to those who know who's stalking Yami Bakura. XD C'mon, guys, it's not that hard. Also, before I forget, suggestions are also welcome; I do know what will happen for the most part, but an idea here and there never hurt anyone.

**Chapter Two**

**Return of Darkness**

A lone figure runs from his attacker, attempting to escape death. But who is he, and what does his attacker want? Then, Yugi wakes up, realizing that his link with Yami has been severed. What's going on? Is the pharaoh okay?


	2. Return of Darkness

**KirbsterMK:** Wow, I actually got a couple of reviews. XD Okay, I forgot to tell you guys in the first chapter that I'm taking **severe liberties** with the characters. We're not going to have an emotionally constipated Seto Kaiba, or a loveless, careless Yami Bakura. I'm sorry, but I'm trying to break away from the horrible anime stereotypes. Forgive me if you think the characters are OOC, but it's impossible to not feel an emotion or not care about someone. (sighs) On with the chapter.

**Miyabi-Aoi** – (claps) Good job. Have some more cookies, I have too many. XD In this fic, Marik's the yami and Malik's the hikari, since that's what I've seen most often . . . usually. Thanks for reviewing, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story! Yami torture sounds like fun. (winks) I'll see what I can do.

**DarknessLady** – Hope you're happy with the quick update. Thanks for reviewing, and enjoy the chapter!

**Masami Mistress of Fire** – Thanks for the review! I hope you enjoy this chapter, and hope that it satisfies your need to know. XD

**Ryou's Kitty – **; Don't do anything crazy just yet, I plan on keeping this story up to my fullest potential. Thanks for the favorite and the review, and I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!

I'll be updating once every week, hopefully, to give myself time to get new chapters completed.

Oh, and **I don't own** Yu-Gi-Oh. If I did . . . Well, you know the rest.

**WARNINGS: Violence (THIS CHAPPIE), some bad language, and me gone crazy. Yep, still crazy. Oh, and possible CHARACTER DEATH.**

_**Flames will be poked at, pointed at, and laughed at, because those who have time to read the story and then review it with a pointless flame must not have very much of a life.**_

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**Chapter 2**

**Return of Darkness**

_'He's back he's back he's back he's back RA WHY THE HELL IS HE BACK!'_

He felt his feet hit the ground roughly, water splashing up from off the ground, his movements becoming clumsier and clumsier as he continued running from his attacker through the downpour of rain. He was breathing far too heavily, and was afraid he would need to stop soon. The rain didn't help him any, obscuring his vision at the worst possible time. Not like he could've seen much anyway; it was nearly midnight, and there weren't too many streetlights lit in this area of the city.

Taking a chance, he looked back over his shoulder; no sign of him. Not yet, anyway, but he was sure that his attacker was only playing games with him. Damn that psychotic bastard! He decided to face forward again, to avoid running into something, or tripping, and getting caught.

His heart was racing in his chest, threatening to jump out, his adrenaline the only thing keeping him from stopping to catch his breath. He had to get out of here, had to get to where he'd be safe . . . The pharaoh . . . Yes! He needed to inform the pharaoh! The pharaoh would help him, without out a doubt, right?

He cursed his luck, wondering why this had happened to him. Would he be able to reach the pharaoh in time? He growled in frustration. No, he wouldn't be able to, not before he was caught, hurt, or, possibly, killed. He jumped over a low fence, which slowed him down slightly, but he immediately went back to his previous sprinting speed.

He felt the unmistakable presence of his attacker, fear clutching at him as he realized that even with the help of his fight and flight response, there was no way he would be able to escape. He cursed again, wondering if he was the only one with as bad as luck.

Those few seconds of uncertainty had taken his focus off of fleeing, and he felt his foot catch on an obstacle he hadn't seen. The rain that was coming down in sheets didn't seem to help as he tripped, and while trying to regain his balance, slipped into a nearby puddle in the alley he had tried to escape in.

He lifted his head up, coughing up the water he had accidentally breathed in. Hearing footsteps stop behind him, he gasped, causing another coughing fit as he struggled to get up and continue running.

It was all in vain.

He felt a foot slam into his back, as the ground came up to meet his face yet again. He winced, pushing himself up with his arms slowly, trying to stand but failing due to the pain in his spine. He suddenly felt the same foot slam into his side, feeling something inside him crack as his body was scraped across the wet ground.

He heard a maniacal laugh coming from his attacker, "You thought you could get away from me?" His attacker walked over calmly, crouching down to grab his hair painfully, forcing him to look into crazed lavender eyes. "You were sorely mistaken, my pet."

He glared up at his enemy, not allowing him to see the fear in his eyes, even though he knew his opponent could most likely sense it, taking in gulps of air as he tried regaining his breath.

"Annoying pest. Couldn't have you running away and telling everyone I came here along with them, now could I?"

Snarling, he quietly built up the saliva in his mouth as his enemy was talking, and without warning, spit it into his opponents face.

His attacker fell back in disgust, wiping the spit off with a quick swipe as the younger one took the chance to get up painfully, smirking, speaking between breaths, "You love to hear yourself talk, don't you?"

He didn't think his attacker would get up so quickly, and was surprised when he was shoved and pinned to the nearby wall.

"Think you're funny, do you?"

He was still panting, not yet recovered from his long run, but he still managed to grin and hide his fear yet again, "Damn straight. Now if only _you_ would get a sense of humor—"

He felt a strong fist connect to his stomach, interrupting his snide remark, coughing up blood, but being unable to take in any air from his damaged diaphragm. He doubled over gasping for breath, but none came in, his eyes wide in pain. His body needed the oxygen after his excessive running, and he saw his vision begin to fade as he continued struggling for air, clutching his stomach even more. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of gold, but his mind wouldn't, no, couldn't, register what it possibly meant—

—and he realized all too late what the golden glow was.

He suddenly felt a sharp pain dig deep into his shoulder, trying hard to yell out in agony without success as he clenched his eye's shut. The next few seconds found him realizing that he had regained his ability to breathe, though shallowly, and he let out a string of silent curses, reaching up to grab his left shoulder with his right hand.

It was stopped, however, when a hand grabbed him by his wrist, quickly twisting it and snapping the bone as he let out another cry, the thing protruding from his left shoulder being forcefully shoved all the way through. Reluctant tears streamed down his face at the pain, unyielding no matter how hard he tried to stop them.

His right arm fell uselessly to his side, as he began to slump forward, landing in his attacker's arms. The weapon, having been successfully pushed through the flesh, muscle and bone, was suddenly yanked out without hesitation. He felt himself dropping to the ground, but before he could meet the ground again, something slammed into his face, causing him to be thrown back into the wall before he crumbled to the ground.

He coughed again, blood coming up in small amounts as he did so, as he looked up, his vision blurred as he was on the verge of passing out. He could see the rough image of his attacker, the crazed glaze in his eyes as he sneered down at the pitiful victim.

"I dare you to defy me again, runt. I have no time to keep you in my sight if I want my plans to work flawlessly."

The young teen barely gave him any indication that he had heard a word his attacker had said, aside from a slight glare, "Don't think I'll give up so easily, Marik. You're just as annoying to me," His voice was hoarse, and low, barely even heard through the loud downpour. His vision swam dangerously as his head swerved slightly.

His talking back earned him another kick in the side, forcing him to the ground yet again as another sharp pain shot through him; there was probably a broken rib in there somewhere for the kick to have hurt so badly.

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

He felt a dull pain hit his head, and only heard the quiet, maniacal laughter of his attacker as he walked away before falling unconscious.

* * *

Yugi snapped awake, sitting up so fast from where he lay that he nearly threw himself off the bed he had been sleeping on. Taking a quick look at his surroundings, he shivered when he had realized that he was not in his own room.

Fear clutching his heart, he tried to contact his other half through their mind link. _'Yami?'_ No response. _'Yami! Are you there? Yami!'_ Still no response. He couldn't feel anything from Yami's side . . . He felt strangely alone, a feeling he had only felt once after bonding with the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle, as tears gathered in his eyes. Flashbacks of what had transpired before he was knocked out played over and over again in his mind.

How long had he been out? Where was Bakura? Did he do anything? Did Bakura . . . kill Yami? He gulped at the last thought that crossed his mind, an involuntary shudder running down his spine as his breath became quicker, heart racing.

_'Calm down, calm down,'_ He told himself mentally. He could barely think straight, yet he was trying to answer his own questions logically? That didn't make sense.

He closed his eyes, trying hard to focus on relaxing so that he could figure all of this out. Reopening his eyes, he took a good look around the room, noticing at once that he definitely recognized it.

_'Ryou's room . . .'_

That meant that he wasn't too far from home, meaning that he should've been able to get through to Yami . . .

It increased his worry tenfold, but Yugi tried hard to ignore it, and instead decided to look out the window; it was dark out and raining rather hard. He, calmly as he could, looked around for a clock to let him know what time it was.

1:38. In the morning.

Still not sure as to how many days, or hours, he'd been knocked out, he tried again to contact Yami, using as much of his energy as he could, but to no avail. The other end of the link was silent, severed . . . dead . . .

Yugi let out a small whimper, slowly climbing out of the bed towards the door. Maybe he could walk out, find Ryou, ask him questions . . . Unless Bakura had gone so far as to kill him, too.

Yugi shook his head clear of the awful thought. _'No!'_ He thought to himself, _'Everyone's alive . . . They have to be.'_ He reached out towards the doorknob, twisting it, surprised when it turned . . .

. . . But was rather frustrated and flustered when it wouldn't open for the life of him.

He pulled hard, as hard as he could, even attempting to put his foot on the wall as he pulled, hoping that the door would swing open.

Yugi sighed in defeat after trying for several minutes. That door was just not budging. He slumped down, to the floor, his back against the door as he buried his face in his shaking hands. What was going on!

He felt the tears that had been bottled up for so long slip down his face silently, confusion and fear finally being allowed to be released from their prison.

Was Yami really dead? Was that truly the reason why he couldn't feel his other half anymore? More tears sent themselves on their way down his cheeks as Yugi realized that these thoughts were very possibly true.

He didn't notice the slight push on the door at first, until the pushes came just a little rougher. He gave a small 'eep' as he scrambled away from the door, turning to see who it was.

He saw two large, dark brown eyes staring at him curiously as the figure calmly walked in, quietly shutting the door behind him.

"Yugi? Are you all right?" The figure turned back to Yugi, a look of concern etched on his face.

Yugi suddenly gasped, snapping out of his daze as he realized that the figure wasn't Bakura, but his friend, Ryou.

"Ryou!" Yugi couldn't help but jump up on his feet and run towards his friend, jumping at him and attacking him with a hug, burying his face into the crook of Ryou's neck as a fresh wave of tears spilled down his face in relief.

Ryou gasped slightly at the unexpected hug, and found himself pinned against the wall by his smaller friend, arms wrapped tightly around his chest making it just the tiniest bit difficult to breathe properly.

"I can't feel Y-Yami, Ryou . . . I thought you were dead . . . I don't know how long I was out . . . It's scaring me . . ."

Ryou looked down at his friend sympathetically, finally wrapping his own arms protectively around Yugi's small form. "It's okay, Yugi . . . Shh, it's okay,"

Ryou gently slid to the floor, pulling Yugi down along with him, and quietly, patiently waited for Yugi to calm down and get all of his emotions out while he whispered encouraging and soothing words to his friend.

Yugi was nearly asleep before Ryou deemed him calm enough to talk, and silently brushed the bangs out of Yugi's face, some of them sticking to his cheeks from the drying tears Yugi had cried.

"Ryou?" Yugi asked tiredly.

"Hmm?"

"How long have I been out?"

Ryou thought carefully, "No more than eight hours, I suppose."

Yugi nodded. That was good, right? His friend wasn't so frantic anymore; for the most part, anyway. . "Did . . . did Bakura kill Yami?"

Ryou stared down at his friend in surprise, confusion becoming apparent on his young face. Where did he—?

"No, not that I know of, why?"

"I can't feel him. At all. It's . . . lonely. "

—Oh.

Ryou sighed, "Bakura put up a barrier around this room with his Shadow Magic, to prevent anyone, or anything, from entering, exiting, hearing or seeing without his permission." Ryou stared at the ground sadly, "It took me most of the night to convince him to let me check up on you." Flashbacks of the screaming match that went on between the two played silently in his mind as he shuddered involuntarily.

Yugi noticeably relaxed, most of his tension dissipating at that response as he sighed quietly.

Ryou mumbled something quietly, perking his friend's interest.

"What?"

"I said I'm sorry . . ."

"About what?"

"About all of this. I don't know what Bakura's planning, and I can't even do anything about it. It's so . . . annoying, I guess." Yugi looked up at Ryou, giving him a small smile through his tear-stained cheeks. "And . . . I guess I'm sort of responsible, too. I gave him the idea to go walk in the park, since he told me he wasn't feeling too good." Ryou looked away from Yugi's gaze, still staring at the floor; it was quite interesting to look at, eh?

"It's no problem, Ryou, and it's not your fault," He replied, shifting so that he was sitting down next to the older teen instead of sitting on his lap, putting his head on his shoulder. "So don't even blame yourself, okay?" Ryou could hear Yugi's smile through his words, and turned his head to look at him as Yugi looked away, "I just wish I knew what was going on."

"Me too, Yugi." Ryou gently brought his right hand up to wipe the trail of tears off of Yugi's face as he spoke quietly, "Me too."

They sat there in a comfortable silence, enjoying the other's presence through their confusing time. Just as Ryou had closed his eyes, ready to fall asleep holding his friend, a voice called agitatedly through his thoughts.

_'Are you done _yet_? You've been in there for half an hour already . . .'_

He jumped slightly at the voice, making Yugi stir from his almost-sleep. _'Yeah, I'll be there in a minute . . .'_

"Sorry, Yugi, Bakura wants me out now," He said apologetically as his friend looked up with a worried look.

"Don't let him do anything to you, Ryou," Yugi's expression turned to one of determination, "Hopefully he'll let me go soon . . . And when he does, we can go tell Yami what's going on."

Ryou nodded, smiling in what he hoped looked like determination as well, "That we will," He stood up, and went to open the door before he turned to look down at Yugi once again, "He doesn't mean to be evil, Yugi, he really doesn't . . . Not anymore, anyway. He's just deeply misunderstood. And . . . I think something's wrong. I don't think he did this of his own free will, Yugi. Please take that into consideration."

With that said, Ryou left, softly closing the door behind him.

* * *

Yami growled in frustration, nearly wearing a hole in the carpet from all his pacing. It was late at night, or early morning, whichever you preferred, and Yugi hadn't returned. His grandfather was out of town, Yugi had said he'd be back by seven, and his end of the link had . . . strangely disappeared.

As the seconds ticked by on the clock in the kitchen, Yami's worry grew, as well as his frustration. The last thing he had felt from his partner was uncertainty and anxiety, before the other half of the mind link went silent. Yugi hadn't responded to any of his calls, and the fact that he'd been trying for hours didn't help his own anxiety. What really bugged him was that the presence of the other mind completely disappeared a few minutes after Yugi's mind had fallen unconscious.

What in Ra's name had caused him to allow Yugi to go out on his own? He was confused by his own actions, and if Yugi ended up severely hurt, or worse, he'd . . . He just couldn't believe his own stupidity!

There was no time to think about that. Right now he needed to focus, and wait. It wouldn't do him any good to go out there in the night trying to find his other half; he'd have to wait 'til morning. Yugi could still come home, after all, and if he did while Yami was out, there was no way for Yami to know. But if he waited 'til morning, he could easily get out there, get his friends together and form a search party. Sugoroku would be home in the morning anyway.

Sounded like a plan to him. He couldn't get the police involved; Oh no, he'd be in trouble if they found a person who wasn't even supposed to exist, and he wouldn't be able to help Yugi then, now would he? He nodded to himself, assuring that this was the best course of action to take.

Yami suddenly jumped at a thump on the door of the game shop, spinning towards it, excitement taking control over him.

Yugi!

The pharaoh ran towards the door, swinging it open as fast as he could, but stopped in confusion when he didn't see his hikari there. He had been so sure that Yugi had returned home. So why wasn't he—

"H-help . . . Pharaoh . . ."

Yami barely heard the voice, but definitely had seen the figure lying on the ground in the pouring rain. His eyes widened; blood had been thinned by the falling water, but it was still noticeable that the young teen was badly hurt, breathing heavy and bleeding profusely from opened wounds.

"Malik! What happened!" Yami kneeled down, carefully picking his friend up to carry him to the couch in the living room as Malik winced in pain.

"It's M-Marik, Pharaoh . . . He's back."

* * *

**KirbsterMK: **Ha, chapter four's almost done. At least I haven't abandoned this story yet, right? Cliffie's are fun, I'm sure you'd all agree. Also, I have the right to edit any part of this story if I see fit . . . I'll try to contact you all if I do.

Suggestions are still welcome; Not sure if I'll be able to fit all of them in, but I can try.

Well, looks like Malik's the first one to get killed off. XD I'm joking, really. You think I'd spoil something like that? But then I can't really assure you that he'll stay alive, either. Perhaps he _does_ die in the third chapter . . . (thinks carefully)

**Chapter Three**

Yami needs to get Malik some help, but where is he going to find help without alerting authorities that he's illegal? Kaiba, of course, but will the stubborn CEO really help the pharaoh out? And after a heated discussion with Bakura, will Ryou gather up the courage to defy his opposite?


	3. Unanswered Questions

**KirbsterMK:** Heh, I had fun with this chapter. I took several more liberties in developing relationships between characters. Kaiba needs _someone_ to fight with when Yami isn't in the mood, eh? Sorry this one's late, guys. I tried to get it out on time, but I did a lot of re-editing on this chapter so that it would be better than it originally was.

**_IMPORTANT – I recently got a review that pointed out Kleptoshipping. I had started this story out with it, after all. And now I ask my returning reviewers, do you want Yami Bakura x Yugi or not? I'm ready for this challenge, and want to take it on, though I'm curious as to what you will say. In the end, I hold the final decision, and at this point, this will be a Kleptoshipping fic._**

I ask all people out there to obtain an open mind; there are too few of us out there.

**Computerfreak101 – **(Grins) Thanks for the review! I do hope to continue with the Kleptoshipping idea, and most likely will. I actually re-edit the 'heated discussion' just because I read your review; I hope it's to your liking!

**Masami Mistress of Fire - **Yay, I updated again! A little late, nonetheless, but I had some re-editing to do, no? Hope you enjoy this chapter just as much!

**DarknessLady – **Yeah, poor guy. I added another scene with Yami after reading your review . . . I felt I needed to add a little more about how he was feeling throughout the whole thing. Please enjoy!

**WARNINGS: Violence, some bad language, and me gone crazy. Possible CHARACTER DEATH and/or shounen-ai (GAY guys.) **

_**Flames will be poked at, pointed at, and laughed at, because those who have time to read the story and then review it with a pointless flame must not have very much of a life.**_

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**Unanswered Questions**

Yami's eyes widened as Malik spoke. So his assumptions on Marik's return had been correct. This opened a can of worms he wasn't sure he was ready for.

"Malik, we need to get you help, fast," The pharaoh stated quickly, noticing how fast the couch's fabric was being stained with blood.

Malik's breath was short and shallow, sometimes uneven, and Yami was frustrated once again with the lack of information. How was he supposed to get Malik help? He'd only been to a hospital once, or something close to it . . .

His thoughts snapped to the one person he knew he could get help from, "Hold on, Malik, I'm going to call Kaiba. He should be able to help us."

Malik nodded briefly before Yami left the room to get the phone and the phone book kept on the kitchen counter. He stared at the cordless thing and all of its buttons before frowning deeply, brows furrowing in distress. He didn't know how to work this thing!

He sprinted to the living room where Malik was biting his lip, trying to get his mind off the pain coming from his broken arm and open wounds.

"I hate to ask you this now, Malik, but I don't know how to work much in this era," Yami said in a sympathetic tone, "How do I—?"

"P-press the 'on' button, then dial the damn n-numbers!" Malik yelled in anger and impatience, though unintentionally.

Yami sat down on the floor, cross-legged, opening the phone book to the page where Kaiba Seto's name appeared, staring at the numbers for little more than three seconds. He quickly searched the phone for the 'on' button Malik had told him about, pressing it as soon as he found it. He heard a strange sound coming from the phone, but decided he didn't have time to worry about strange sounds now and punched in the numbers slowly as he read them off mentally in his head.

Cautiously putting the phone to his ear as he had seen Sugoroku do many a time, as if expecting it to bite him, he jumped at the 'ring' he heard through it. He bit his lip; was it supposed to do that?

After a few more 'rings', Malik began showing his impatience with the pain, "Did you g-get through to the bastard yet?" He forced through clenched teeth.

"No, not—"

He was cut off by a bored voice suddenly interrupting the ringing. "Who are you, what do you want, and why the hell haven't you hung up yet!"

"Kaiba! It's me, Ya—Er, Atem! Can you hear me? It's an emergency, could you—"

"No."

"—send your medical team down to the game shop? Quickly, he's losing a lot of blood." Yami still held his calm and controlled voice, stumbling over his words once or twice, but his voice was twice the volume it normally was, making sure that Kaiba could hear loud and clear.

The voice on the other line sighed, aggravated, "Fine. I'll be down there in a couple minutes with my team. If this ends up being a fake emergency—"

"I don't have a reason to lie, Kaiba."

A click. Yami took the phone away from his ear, surprised. Putting it back to his ear he called out, "Kaiba? Kaiba, are you there?"

_'He must've pressed the 'off' button,'_ Yami reasoned to himself.

"He'll be here shortly, Malik . . ." Yami explained, putting the phone on the floor without turning it off. He made his way over to the pained Egyptian, looking over all of his wounds, wincing at some of the more gruesome ones.

Malik didn't reply; the only sign that he had heard Yami was a small sigh threw in with his staggered breathing.

The pharaoh silently concentrated, his hand placed over the wounded shoulder, willing any of his shadow powers to come and aid in the healing process, the dark violet light illuminating his hand and Malik's wound, and was only successful in stopping the bleeding. He closed his eyes, feeling dizzy all of a sudden as he had not used his powers in a while. It didn't help that they usually weren't used for healing, anyway.

Yami sat down, back against the couch, not knowing what else to do in this situation, but it wasn't long before he heard the screeching of tires outside on the street. He scrambled up on his feet to open the door, but was surprised when the door was nearly kicked down, only held together by one of its hinges.

Kaiba was the first one in, stepping to the side as a group of his medical team ran through, several with life-saving kits and two carrying a stretcher. Yami was shoved to the side so the team could get to the living room where Malik was laying.

Before Yami could register what was happening, the team was out of the house, and one of the medical women was talking with Kaiba before leaving for the company.

"Make sure he gets the best care; I don't want to arrive and find that he wasn't taken care of properly."

The nurse bowed respectively, rushing out as two medical vans went on their way to Kaiba Corp.

"Atemu, let's go. On the way there, I want you to explain what's going on."

Yami just stared at Kaiba as he said this, and ended up having to be dragged out of the house, then out of the game shop as Kaiba locked the door behind them. Being led to the passenger side of Kaiba's car, the pharaoh took his seat as Kaiba started the car up.

"Now, what the hell is going on?"

* * *

"Bakura, this is ridiculous, what the hell has gotten into you?" Ryou knew it was a risk to get into an argument with his other half at this point, but he couldn't think of another way to deal with his current situation. 

The tomb robber glared at him through white bangs that hung over his gleaming eyes, "Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"Stop avoiding my questions!" Ryou slammed his hand on the table, frustrated, "You were fine with everyone up until today; why are you suddenly so obsessed with your revenge _now_?" Ryou admitted it; even if Bakura _did_ enjoy striking fear into the hearts of his friends, he didn't do so much as glare at them all these past weeks. Hell, he even joined in with the jokes once or twice! He had all but forgotten his revenge until yesterday . . . His anxiety and worry for his friends and his other half doubled, his legs beginning to shake as he stood, struggling to hold his own against Bakura as he had done so many times before.

"I'm not avoiding your questions, brat, I'm just saying that you haven't gotten any sleep at all tonight. The sun's nearly risen; what are your friends going to say when they see you half-asleep? Aren't you supposed to go out with them later today?"

Ryou bit the inside of his cheek to keep from pounding the table again. "What they'll probably say is 'where the hell is Yugi'. I doubt that we're still going to meet up after all of this. Even _you_ can't be so stupid to assume something like that!"

"Stupid, am I?" The thief growled, his hands leaning heavily on the table, threatening to get up from his seat and attack.

"You can be." Ryou shot back, surprised at his own assertiveness.

The thief moved, but stopped himself quickly enough so that it looked like he just twitched as Ryou unconsciously took a step back. He stared at Ryou for a minute before sitting back against the chair, allowing a long breath to be let out. He held in his anger as best he could, "It's none of your business."

Ryou felt himself stiffen up in frustration again, then took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, "C'mon, Bakura, I want to know why. I think I deserve at least that much."

Ryou felt Bakura's eyes pierce through him; it was a strange feeling, one he'd grown accustomed to, but he stood his ground, feet firmly planted on the kitchen floor while he stared directly into the dark brown eyes that matched his own.

Bakura's eyes closed as he sighed again, but reopened when he spoke, looking at the ground, "To tell the truth, I have no clue what's going on. I don't know why I grabbed Yugi, I don't know why I'm suddenly so persistent on revenge, because, quite frankly, I hadn't thought of it until two nights ago. Something's going on around here," He looked up into his partner's eyes with determination, "But I guess it doesn't change the fact that I have him in my grasp, and that revenge is just a staircase away if I ever want to act on it. Besides, things like this don't leave the mind easily."

"That doesn't make it right, Bakura."

"In my mind, it does. It's a little something like 'karma', as some of you call it. That's the problem with you and your little group of 'justice-fighters'; you all think that justice is what _you_ want, and getting the wrongs done to _you_, and making them right, but all in all, I have my own sense of justice that you shallow-minded creatures don't understand. You think it's twisted, don't you? I'm not surprised. Let it be known that had the pharaoh's family and home town been destroyed before his eyes, he would've done the same thing as I. It makes perfect sense in my mind, the way I've done things. I've always lived my life this way, and I'll continue until I'm finally laid down to rest; I will do _anything_ to get what I want. Anything else can be thrown to the fish, because anything that doesn't have to do with me, I honestly couldn't care less about."

Ryou sighed, shaking his head; he understood his other half perfectly. How could he not after such a long time of sharing the same body and mind with him? But still . . .

"So in other words, you weren't really planning on kidnapping Yugi in the first place?"

Bakura shrugged, sneering, "Who knows? I felt _something_ tugging at the back of my mind and ended up acting on it, okay? I don't know what I was planning."

Ryou walked out of the kitchen and into the living room, deciding to take a quick nap on the couch. He wasn't going to let this go on; as soon as someone contacted him and asked about Yugi's disappearance, he would tell them.

'_After all, Ryou, the only reason the pharaoh is the way he is today is because Yugi was able to tame him with his light. We're not called 'darks' for nothing, you know.'_

He'd show his other half that he could be just as strong-willed.

* * *

Yami sat in the small room in a well-cared for chair, one arm acoss his abdomen, the other reaching up to support his head as he rested his chin on his hand. The room was well-decorated, paintings hung neatly on the wall, beige and green furnishings resting with a calm air about them in the room. It didn't even seem like a waiting room . . . 

Maybe that's because it wasn't. Just a small guest room in the Kaiba mansion.

Very rarely was the pharaoh _ever_ shaken, if at all; and when he was, you couldn't bribe him with much to admit it. He was very prideful, and only around certain friends would he allow himself to break down. There were only two or three times when he had been in such an unstable state, and even now as his hands began shaking slightly, he couldn't believe how much had happened within the last couple hours.

He had tried calming himself many a time, but his efforts proved to be in vain when his mind came up with more 'what-if's' than he could afford to count. Malik was badly injured, perhaps dying, Yugi was _still_ missing and there was no sign of him . . . What about Ryou? Was he okay? He seemed to be the only one who hadn't gotten himself into this mess yet . . . Or had he?

Yami couldn't concentrate long enough to form a complete, understandable sentence in his state. Calmly (yet frantically in his mind) looking towards the slightly open door every now and then, hoping Kaiba or one of his nurses would show up with good news. He got up, pacing, trying to get his mind off of all that had happened in such a short amount of time.

He hated feeling this way, and wished he could wake up to find out it was all a horrible nightmare. He looked around, hoping there'd be a clock in the room, but found out there was none. He sighed, knowing that it was a good thing there wasn't one; it would just cause him to worry when he realized that another hour had passed by.

He suddenly felt dizzy, and put his hand up to his forehead, stopping in his pacing around the room as his vision swam. All this stress was proving to be too difficult for him to handle.

Though he hadn't eaten anything in hours, he felt that the bile in his stomach wanted to come up and greet him, and it felt hard to breathe, his chest feeling constrained by an invisible force. His legs continued shaking as he stood still, his throat dry, and he was ready to run out and find Kaiba.

His thoughts became obsessive, and he found that he couldn't stop himself from thinking about what had happened, and what could still. His anxiety continued to grow exponentially, and he suddenly wish that he could just fall asleep and forget that this had happened. He noticed, frantically, that his breathing was becoming irregular in his anxiety. He clenched his eyes shut, not being able to stop the thoughts that rushed through his head, wondering what was happening to him.

When he finally decided to sit back down, on the floor this time, trying to control his heart rate and breathing, he heard footsteps enter the room, and a familiar tired voice from a certain CEO acknowledged the Pharaoh.

"We did the best we could, so don't die yet. Follow me."

* * *

Malik winced, slowly coming into consciousness as he saw a really bright light through his eyelids. He felt strangely uncomfortable, but could barely feel any pain anymore . . . What happened? 

Carefully opening one eye, he instantly shut it. The damned light was brighter than he had originally thought. Where was he, exactly?

He thought he heard someone trying to talk to him, but dismissed it for the time being. He was more worried about not being able to move his arms. Trying to move his right arm, he found it held at an angle against his body. Trying to move his left, he felt it strapped down; a strange, dull pain made its way through it when he tried moving it.

He decided that he might as well open his eyes, slowly, and find out who was trying to talk to him as a shadow fell over his face. His eyes quickly adjusted to the light in the room, thankful for the shadow that blocked most it, and sighed as he realized it was the pharaoh looking over him. At least he knew he was safe.

"What happened?" His words were slightly slurred, and his voice still scratchy. He felt the slightest bit disoriented as he shook his head slowly to get the feeling away.

He heard the pharaoh sigh in relief, then saw him sit back down in what Malik guessed to be a chair by his bed as the bright light flooded his vision again. He only blinked a few times before his eyes were able to adjust.

"We're in the hospital wing of Kaiba Corp. You passed out on the way here, they put something in you, 'fixed you up' as they said, and now you're in recovery." The voice sounded strained, not at all like the Pharaoh Atem he knew.

He groaned at the 'Kaiba Corp.' part; he didn't want to have to owe _Kaiba_ anything. He tried sitting up, but nearly fell until Atem caught him, and did something with the bed. It was adjusted so that the bed was sitting up with him.

"You know, these beds can help you sit up; you could've just asked." A strained smile. What was wrong again?

Malik shrugged, the small pain returning in his arms as he did so. Now that he was sitting up, he could look down at his arms; his right arm in a cast and sling, and his left shoulder bandaged, strapped down to the bed, keeping him from moving it.

"How long was I out?" Malik asked, stilling staring at his right arm.

"Four or five hours, give or take." Malik turned his face to look at Kaiba, who had just appeared in the doorway, "I'm curious as to how you were able to break your arm in three different places,"

Malik had to bite his tongue to keep from insulting the man who just may have saved his life, "I was attacked. Before I tell you all the details, I want to know exactly what your doctors did to me."

Seto smirked, "For one, you're drugged up on morphine, though it probably should be starting to wear off now, to keep you from feeling pain, and we used anesthesia to make sure you stayed knocked out for a while since they had to perform surgery on your right arm. We also had to set two of your ribs in place; you'll be out for a while. Oh, and you're going to feel a _lot_ of pain when that morphine lets up; bones have a lot of nerve endings."

"How long until I can function normally again?"

"Ten to twelve weeks, maybe not so long. The cast should keep your right arm set to heal properly, but you'll have to be careful with those broken ribs. Move around too much, and they'll puncture your lungs."

"Well, I _do_ have to breathe . . . how am I supposed to do that?"

"You can breathe fine; it'll just hurt with every breath."

Malik groaned again; couldn't he just stay on the morphine? And he couldn't stay out that long, Marik could attack again! He felt a twinge of anxiousness build up in his chest. This was bad.

"So what happened, exactly?" Malik nearly jumped, remembering that the pharaoh was still sitting beside him. He'd been so quiet he hadn't noticed him for the past few minutes as he talked with Kaiba.

Malik sighed; he didn't really want to explain it, even to the pharaoh. "Well . . . You know how I rented a hotel on the outskirts of Domino, right?" A nod from Atem; he didn't even bother looking at Kaiba, "I didn't want to tell you, but a couple of days ago, the Millennium Rod just disappeared from the hotel room. I thought I had misplaced it, so I didn't want to worry you for nothing. Last night, I felt his presence, and it was real strong. He had opened our mind link, and . . . he did something that was related to the Ring's spirit, though I'm not sure what. All I could think of was getting out of there as fast as I could, then I figured about half-way through my run that I could go to you, and he caught up to me." Malik sighed, obviously displeased with his own weaknesses, "He had the Millennium Rod; He stole it from me, the bastard."

"Well, aren't you smart. You're lucky you weren't killed because of your foolish mistake."

Malik glared at Kaiba, "You know, not everyone's perfect like you, 'boss'."

"It's good to know that _someone_ recognizes my skills." Kaiba smirked.

Malik scoffed, "At least I'm not some over-egotistical, spoiled CEO with too easy a life who's never learned how to quit."

"Oh, I forgot to mention, nice tattoos; did you pick them out yourself, or did _daddy_ do that for you?"

"Goddammit, Kaiba, I'll kill you!" Malik snarled, attempting to jump off the bed to attack the calm and collected brunette who was currently sneering at the fact he had hit a nerve. Malik was suddenly thrown back to his bed as he realized that his left arm was still strapped to the bed to keep him from moving and hurting his shoulder. He felt a sharp pain in his side as the medicine continued to wear off, and the wound in his shoulder reopened slightly, already-bloodied bandages staining with fresh blood coming from inbetween stitches.

This earned a chuckle from Kaiba, "Better learn to control your anger; you'll end up killing yourself if you don't." With that, the CEO walked out, leaving the pharaoh and Malik alone.

Releasing a string of Egyptian curses, Malik folded his arms over his chest as best he could as Atem sighed heavily.

"I'll go have a talk with him. If you need anything, one of the nurses should be coming in shortly, okay? And then I want to have a talk with you." The pharaoh didn't wait for a response before walking out after Kaiba, a determined look set on his face.

* * *

"I'm just saying that you didn't have to do that! He's been through enough in the past eight hours, huh?" 

"Pfft, it's no excuse. He's lucky I even allowed him to be treated."

"I have enough things to worry about, I already told you, and I don't need a stupid argument like this weighing on my mind! It wouldn't kill you to act civil around him for a change."

Kaiba looked away, staring out the window, "Whatever you say. I have better things to do with my time."

"You still never answered my earlier question," Yami sighed.

"Heh, which one? If I remember correctly, you asked several."

"What were you doing up so late last night? Or, this morning . . ."

Kaiba rolled his eyes at the question, "If you _really_ want to know, I was up working on some problems with the network; I have a convention to go to next week that my company's hosting, and I can't have miniscule problems like the ones I was having ruin it."

Yami nodded. "Where is it being held?"

"Some shopping center in Shibuya. You may be interested in the new dueling technology we've produced." Kaiba smirked.

Yami threw a smirk back at his so-called rival, "I just may be."

"Anyway, I expect _you_ to take care of the ungrateful runt; I don't have time to deal with those who talk back. I'll send a few nurses every few hours to check up on you—him. Feel free to use the phone in the room; I'm sure your grandfather will wonder where you and Yugi went off to. You may want to fill him in."

Yami hung his head, staring at the ground as Kaiba walked away. That's right, Yugi was still missing. He'd almost forgotten about that problem with all his worrying over if Malik was going to live or not.

Checking the link again, he found it dead still. He sighed again, feeling the slightest hint of a tear forming in his eyes. Shaking his head, he wiped it away; he had to be strong. For now, anyway. Deciding that everyone else was going to wonder where he and Yugi were, he headed back to Malik's room to use the phone. Maybe someone else knew what was going on.

Yami's eyes suddenly widened. Wait, hadn't Malik said that Marik's thoughts were focused on the Spirit of the Ring?

With determination lighting his eyes, Yami walked confidently towards Malik's room.

_'Don't worry, Aibou. I'll find you.'_

* * *

**KirbsterMK:** Haha, during that whole scene where Malik woke up in the Kaiba Corp Medical station, I kept going into Malik's First Person point of view. XD I had to read over it three times before I was sure I fixed it all . . . I don't know why I did that; I think I was getting _way_ too into the story. XD But that's a good thing, right? 

Well, whatever happens, happens. I must apologize though, these past two weeks were hectic. The play I was in just had its last performance on Saturday, and it had been in overwork mode. It didn't help that a bunch of shitty teenage angst that could've been avoided, but ended up being for the best anyway; I was in total 'anxiety anxiety anxiety panic attack anxiety' mode last week. XD

**PHARAOH'S NAME NOTES** – You may have noticed my jumps from 'Atemu' to 'Atem', and I want to explain why these are intentional. I've done intense research on how the ancient Egyptian wrote and pronounced names . . . It seems that there is NO ONE out there who knows how the Egyptians truly wanted these names of pharaohs and gods to be prounounced. It doesn't help that they weren't big 'vowel' fans. I'm sure most of you have seen the sun god's name spelled 'Ra' and 'Re', correct? That's because we don't know WHAT vowel to put there. Egyptologists basically took a guess. Neither spelling is incorrect. So seeing as they weren't fans of vowels, adding the 'u' at the end of Yami's real name doesn't seem right.

After seeing a recent dub episode of Yu-Gi-Oh, and seeing that they dubbed his name 'Atem', I realized that the only reason his name is 'Atemu' in the Japanese version is because that's how the Japanese prounounce the name 'Atem'. While I do believe Takahashi-san originally meant for his name to be 'Atemu', I also believe that the closest prounounciation to a real Egyptian name would be 'Atem'. So for sanity's purpose, those who are of Egyptian blood will know him as 'Atem', and those who are Japanese will know him as 'Atemu'. Sound good?

* * *

**Chapter Four**

Jounouchi enters the plot as he receives a phone call from Atemu, finding out that his best bud's missing, and that a close acquantance has been injured. He's not the happiest person to find out that they're all trusting Kaiba through all of this, either. Atem finally gets on the case of Bakura, and after explaining to Ryou what the younger already knows and more, accuses the tomb robber of plotting against him with Marik. How will Bakura take it, and will Yugi be in more danger because of this sudden outburst?


	4. Note of the Undead

Sun Goes Down

I apologize immensely for how long it's been since I've updated this story. It's been two and a half years! It's taken a couple e-mails and reviews for me to realize that I really need to update you guys on what's happening.

I am completely revising Sun Goes Down, and I'm not sure if I'll keep the title the same. I decided to base it entirely off the manga (I haven't even seen a third of the anime), but from what I gather, there aren't too many differences. I've done a lot of research on ancient Egypt and I've gone through the volumes several times over, and plot bunnies keep attacking. I hope to deliver something you all will enjoy.

Thank you so much for keeping this story on your favorites lists and your story alerts lists. It means a lot! I hope to be able to post something soon, but I can't guarantee anything. If you want to keep in touch with me, or want me to e-mail you the progress of the story, feel free to drop me a line at [ KirbsterMK [at aol [dot com That, or you can just tell me in a review, and I'll e-mail you. 3 Thank you all again! I will continue this story until it is finished.

KirbsterMK


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